Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested a real estate developer and a stock broker in connection with the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chit fund case. They are Mumbai-based stockbroker Deepak C. Parekh and local real estate developer, Dharmendra Bothra.

Sources in CBI said Parekh, who was associated with a stock trading company named Yash Trading and Finance Limited earlier, became the director of Artha Tatwa Capital Limited (ATCL) on May 5, 2009. The ATCL was listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Parekh used to invest AT Group’s money in the stock market. Several influential persons in the state, who had links with AT Group, are said to have made investments in the stock market through him, sources added.

On August 16 this year, the CBI had conducted searches at the residences of Parekh and a lady TV serial producer in Mumbai.

Builder Dharmendra Bothra was earlier quizzed by the CBI regarding his land deal with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA and party strongman Kalapataru Das’ son Pranab Balabantaray.

Balabantaray had bought a plot in Jaydev Vihar area in the state capital in 2003, but had later sold it off to Bothra.

After their arrest, the special CBI court allowed the Central investigating agency to take Bothra under its remand for four days while the court sent Parekh to judicial custody.

At a time when issues over land acquisition have stalled several infrastructure projects across the country, the UP government has included certain provisions to its Integrated Township Scheme which are expected to benefit both developers and farmers

The land grab at Ghangapatna, on the outskirts of the city, may not be an isolated case. The state government has started preliminary inquiry into suspected encroachment on government plots at nearby Malipada and Gothapatna villages

The CBI, which concluded its probe into the Deoghar land scam worth Rs 1,000 crore, has now received sanction from the state to prosecute government officials who allegedly facilitated the illegal sale of around 826 government-owned acres